Search goes on for Benin air crash survivors

Wreckage from the Benin air crash. Photo: AP
Rescue teams are combing the waters off Benin in west Africa today in a desperate search for survivors of yesterday's plane crash which killed at least 111 people.

Most of the casualties of the Beirut-bound flight UTA 141 were Lebanese nationals heading home for Christmas holidays. Twenty-two people are reported to have survived the accident.

With spotlights perched on the beach and flashlights in hand, divers and fishermen searched for survivors through the night, swimming through scattered pieces of luggage, clothes and gift-wrapped presents.

Tractors tied chains to parts of the Boeing 727's wreckage, including an engine, in an effort to clear away the wreckage.

By dawn, the bulk of the destroyed aircraft still lay in the water, some 100 metres from the beach. About 20 Benin navy patrol boats were positioned offshore to facilitate the rescue effort.

It was unclear exactly how many people were aboard the chartered aircraft. According to Benin's transport minister Ahmed Akobi, the plane's manifest listed 156 passengers and an unknown number of crew. Some of the passengers were from Benin, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

There is as yet no word on what caused the tragedy. Benin's chief of army staff, Fernard Amoussou, said one of the plane's two black boxes was found. It was not immediately known whether it contained flight data or cockpit voice recordings.

The Boeing lifted off on a sunny Thursday afternoon from the airport in Cotonou, Benin's commercial capital, and troubles began right away, said Jerome Dandjinou, a senior airport security official.

"The back of the plane hit a building at the end of the runway. There was a fire and an explosion was heard," Dandjinou told the Associated Press. "The plane exploded and the debris fell into the water." The Atlantic Ocean is about 500 metres from airport tarmac.